Julio Vela, 23, says he’s been smoking marijuana since he was 14 years old. Before 2017, he said his run-ins with police were aggressive and officers made him throw out his weed. Vela said he was recently smoking on his front porch and officers went along with their business.

"You know you can't smoke it in public, you can't do this and that, but when they see it not worth their time anymore,” said Vela .

500 PERCENT DECREASE IN MARIJUANA RELATED ARRESTS OR CITATIONS

ABC10 News took a look at Sacramento Police data listed on the city’s website. We compared the crime data specifically involving marijuana and here’s what we found:

Officers averaged nearly 25 marijuana related arrests or citations per month, a total of 297 for the year, according to police data. In 2017, Sacramento police have cited 18 marijuana related crimes or about four per month – A 500 percent decrease in marijuana related arrests and citations from 2016 to 2017.

Those crimes include sales, transportation, growing, and possession of more and less than an ounce.

Marijuana related crimes made up nearly 11 percent of all 2708 drug related police arrests or citations in 2016. So far this year, marijuana crimes make up a little more than 3 percent of the 539 drug related crimes.